We love premium smartphones here at htxt.africa but we also recognise that not everybody needs or can afford the latest high-end smartphone.
So yesterday when Qualcomm detailed its latest Snapdragon 660 and 630 system-on-chips (SoCs) we were rather curious about what the firm had planned for smartphones that aren’t aimed at the upper echelons of earners.
The CPU in the 660 and 630 platforms have been improved by around 20% and 10% respectively with the graphics processor on each platform boasting a 20% improvement.
The long and short of this is better visuals and higher resolution displays. In the case of the 660 platform that means we may see more QHD (2560×1440) displays in the mid-tier and more FHD (1920×1080) at the lower tiers.
Where these new chipsets shine however is in the fact that manufacturers can now implement machine learning to improve user experience. Original equipment manufactuers and developers can use the Snapdragon Neural Processing Engine SDK to run neural networks that match the capabilities of the Snapdragon platform.
We saw something like this in the Huawei Mate 9 and we’re excited to see it in cheaper handset.
Memory, we need more of it
Manufacturers are also going to have to pony up when it comes to RAM as both SoCs support up to 8GB of memory. Of course, we don’t expect to see mid to low range smartphones with 8GB but we hope manufacturers will give us enough memory to be able to run multiple apps smoothly.
Aspiring videographers on a budget will also be happy to note that the new chipsets also support UHD video capture and playback.
Of course the most important feature on any smartphone in 2017 is its camera and these new chipsets are ready to take great images.
The chipset features Qualcomm’s Spectra 160 ISP which according to the firm should net users better photos in low light, more natural skin tones and better images in general.
“With the introduction of the Snapdragon 660 and 630 Mobile Platforms, we are thrilled that features such as improved image quality and fast LTE speeds will now be available in a wide array of devices without sacrificing performance or quality,” said Kedar Kondap, vice president, product management, Qualcomm.
Of course it’s ultimately up to manufacturers to add these features to their phones but it’s nice to know what the SoCs are capable of should a firm like Samsung get their hands on it.
